Hsing-sing

Hsing-sing are bulky, ape-like humanoids with thick white fur that deepens to rich gold with age. Their arms nearly brush the ground, and their broad, flat feet make them strong swimmers. Their hairless faces are almost human, smooth-skinned with small noses and vivid eyes of blue or brown, but their teeth are long, sharp fangs like a meat-eating ape's.

Their fur keeps off the weather, so they wear no clothes, though chiefs may wear armbands of finely woven vines and females sometimes braid wildflowers into their arm and leg fur. They speak their own tongue and the trade language.

Usually mild and friendly, hsing-sing would rather run than fight. Once a year, though, typically as spring begins, adult males are gripped by an instinctive war season lasting 2d6+4 days. Turned savage, they form raiding bands of 5d4 and strike human and humanoid settlements at the edges of their lands, good and evil alike, rarely hitting the same place two years running so as to keep surprise on their side.

Raiders carry blowguns (50%), spears (30%) or parangs (20%), and half bear wicker shields that give AC 5. Their darts are always poisoned with one of two brews. The lethal one kills in 2-5 rounds on a failed save vs. poison and still deals 1-8 damage on a success. The other, a powerful muscle relaxant, paralyzes for 2d6 turns on a failed save, or, on a success, imposes a slow effect lasting 1-6 turns.

A tribe holds 2d10 males, as many females, and children equal to half the adults. Females (1 HD) pelt attackers with stones and clubs from above; children (1-2 hp) never fight. The eldest male leads.

Each family shares a thatch-roofed sleeping platform high in a tall tree and often keeps parrots, rabbits or other small pets. Their days pass in foraging, playing in the treetops and storytelling; they craft nothing beyond tools, weapons and wicker shields. They care little for wealth but keep a little treasure for trading with humans, usually hidden in a hollow branch by the platform.

They eat local fruit and grain, with some fish, deer and other game. A fondness for strong drink brings them to human villages now and then, carrying rare feathers, parrots, fragrant roots and exotic fruits from deep in the woods to swap for metalwork, pottery, rice and wine. Hunters sometimes kill them for their pelts, and an elder's golden fur is especially valued.